heckinooc | MARCH/APR TEST DRIVE

MARCH/APR TEST DRIVE

MARCH TEST DRIVE

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A.SPRING FLOWERS INTRO - GARDEN

[Things are starting to warm up in the garden! Slowly and gently, things have begun to defrost. The saturated pink flowers from February have given way to gentle speckles of clover and bright flushes of green, knocking away the winter frost. Daffodils in bright yellow and white greet garden visitors.

Your local cherubs and imps have noticed that getting people to meet each other can be hard. Perhaps people just aren't as social in the worlds they come from! Surely, everyone's just too frozen stiff from the winter weather to break the ice!

Not to worry. They've got a solution! Visitors to the Garden this month will find a nametag affixed to their clothing again, but this time the nametag is here to do the work for you. When another person approaches or even just passes by, the nametag happily speaks up and describes a fun, short fact about its wearer!

Most of these facts are correct… but there's no telling whether or not they're anything you actually want to share. After all, it's not like the cherubs— or the nametags— asked.

B. IN LIKE A LION - PRIDE RING

It's Game Day in the Pride Ring— which is every day, of course. If you've taken the elevator down to floor one today you're inevitably swept up in the crowds, each eager to participate in and cheer for the public Obstacle Course Race.

You're slapped together with a partner and made to wait in line with them as pairs catapult themselves over platforms, jump through rings of fire, climb rocky crags, and swing over pools of steaming water to try and ring a buzzer. Pairs that make it to their destination get a sinful prize— two bottles of a prized hell drink that gives its drinker an ego trip the same way an energy drink would give you a buzz, and a shiny gold-colored badge with their name on it.

The only catch? Both competitors have to make it through to the end for either to receive a prize.

Maybe you're waiting in line, or perhaps you're going through with your partner— or maybe you've just gotta try and book it before anyone catches you. If you won, why not try enjoying that drink together?

C. OUT LIKE A LAMB - HUMILITY RING

[Those who found their way to the peaceful Humility ring are subject to a much less stressful experience. A cherub has organized a small scavenger hunt in hopes of getting folks to explore more of the ring— you know, if they don't mind. It isn't much, but they just hope you'll take advantage of all they have to offer, after all.

The tasks include:

taking a selfie with someone in a bookshop

sharing a coffee with a new friend at a coffee shop with an animal on the sign

trading a handmade gift with a denizen from heaven or hell

wearing a pair of lion ears

…and other such cozy things. Really, it's a relaxing place to be.

Oddly enough, the place seems a bit more fortunate during the month, too. You might end up getting doubles of anything you obtain in the Humility ring— all the more reason to share with a friend!]

Wildcard

You can come up with whatever posts you like, too, including posts to the network!

OOC NOTES:
-This TDM is open to all! You do NOT need to join the comm to play in it!
-This will be the TDM for March/April, but you're free to use old ones if you prefer, or make your own prompts!
-Already in game? Get accepted during March? Jump into our Feb/March Plotting meme to jumpstart.
-As a reminder, THIRD CHARACTER APPS are now street legal!
-Post questions for the mods here
-Remember, playing in the TDM does NOT guarantee your entry or app being accepted into the game proper later down the line!
-Apps open!! Be sure to read the rules linked there and check the current taken list!
-For current or new potential players: TDMs count as game canon AND threads may be used for AC if you wish! It's optional! You can do a whole thread and then decide it's not canon if you want!
-Remember regardless of your alignment, you are free to travel to whatever level you wish!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For shoving me off that roof!

[ His hands slide out of his sleeves, still shaking Lydia's, but revealing gnarly red stumps at the wrists. He steps back and a fresh pair of hands pop out of his cuffs so that he can gesture with them. ]

One minute, I'm falling to my double-death. Cast-off! Rejected! Nay, betrayed!

[ Oop--! Here comes the anger again. He fixes her with a resentful little glare before reigning his attention back to his good fortune. ]

The next thing I know, I'm here in the garden with these babies!

[ He jerks two thumbs back over his shoulders and spreads his wings. ]

And the rest, as they say, is history! Now then...

[ He props an elbow on an invisible edge and crosses the toe of one boot over the other, the picture of casualty. ]

What happened to you?

[What does it say about her that the gruesome little stumps don't really shock her. She does shake off those hands in the next moment but it's in an utterly casual way as she takes in what he's saying.

Throwing him off the roof feels like a lifetime ago even if she knows it isn't but that's where his memory stops? Was it being here that did it? No, that didn't seem right.

She's obviously thinking this over, arms crossed and expression clearly distracted.]

Mm? Oh, no clue. I don't remember dying.

[It's casually said until she stops in place and quirks a brow.]

... Why don't I remember if you do?

[ Beetlejuice brings a wing around in front of him and preens at it idly with his fingers as Lydia speaks. He seems to consider, lips pursing, brows furrowing, but then his expression fades into a broad shrug with both shoulders. ]

Ehhhhh, I dunno. I've met a few people here who actually came from different Heavens and Hells, so it's probably a whole superhero multiverse type thing. Just imagine--

[ He outstretches an arm, presenting the yawning void of time and space. ]

There's another me out there somewhere who's somehow even hotter!

[Lydia lays a real doubtful look on the man at this whole 'hotter' business. She could argue he'd have to be hot to begin with but instead she waves a hand at him.]

Okay, so let's say I buy that idea.

[She pauses here, drawing out her words a bit.]

What if we say .... in theory here. That I remember a whole lot more happening after the whole roof-shove-thing.

[Her brows perk upward.]

So is that another superhero multiverse thing?

[ This gets the ghouls' head a-tilting again. He supposes that could be just as true as his hot doppelganger. It would explain Lydia's attitude, because up until she ditched him, they'd been getting along swimmingly in his mind.]

Okay, I'll play ball. What do you remember?

Let's see ...

[For a moment Lydia stands in place ticking things off on her fingers.]

So we ruined Charles and Delia's dinner party, they ran out so we spent a few days just scaring random people who came by.

[Okay, maybe now she's smiling over the memory. It was undeniably the most fun she'd had in a while after all. It fades off though as she starts pacing.]

Then you got real ticked off for basically no reason.

[She just needed to get the book open, you know?]

[ Beetlejuice bobs his head in time with Lydia's numbered list until her report on his bad behavior. ]

[ Beetlejuice props his fists on his hips. ]

Well that doesn't sound like me at all.

[ Beetlejuice has the same destructive separation anxiety as an untrained husky. ]

[Lydia gives an amused snort, cocking a brow up.]

Oh it doesn't at all, does it.

[She nods herself now like she totally buys his words. And then in a sweetly innocent tone:]

I mean all I did was stop the scaring to go talk the Maitlands into opening the Handbook for the Recently Deceased for me. You know, so I could go find my mom and all that. Isn't that a silly thing to get mad over?

[Isn't it? How silly! Why yes she's still kind of mad over that, thanks.]

[ Beetlejuice wrinkles his nose. ]

Ugh, you mean you and I had a full on haunt party and you still went back to those wet blankets? Come on, babe! What do those bedsheets got that I don't got?

[Lydia rolls her eyes, ready to speak up in the Maitlands defense and all because they were good to her but ...]

I mean ... sort of good point. Kind of.

[Okay, no. She waves a hand in the air then.]

It wasn't anything to get mad over though! And it just really complicated everything.

[ Beetlejuice is ready to get all worked up, but Lydia keeps pulling the rug out from under him. He huffs and he puffs and he finally blows out a sigh that sounds more like a raspberry. ]

Well I'm sorry, I guess.

[ He throws his wings in the air and folds his arms. ]

There, ya happy? You know, you're lucky. If you'd showed up a year ago, you wouldn't be getting this apology. I've really been working on myself! I am a treat to be around, just ask my boss!

[... Okay so there was a raspberry in there with it but Lydia looks ... genuinely surprised. Like. No, really. It's a half-ass excuse at best but --]

What the hell happened to you.

[ Lydia's reaction stirs a strange feeling in the pit of Beetlejuice's gut. When they'd met, he'd been selling himself as the Ghost With the Most, but now he's standing here just this side of Heaven apologizing for something he hasn't actually technically done yet. ]

[ What HAS happened to him!? He can feel Lucifer laughing at him from beyond the beyond or wherever he went when his paperwork cleared. And UGH if Michael sees him...but isn't this what he wanted? To be better so that he could keep his name? So that people would like him? He's got his own pad, a job he loves, and all the vices he could ask for. But he STILL wants this Hot Topic kid's approval. ]

[ The whole time he is navel-gazing about this, his wings twitch uneasily. ]

Uh...therapy.

[ Oh, he's not used to feeling bashful! OH FUCK THIS! UGH UGH UGH UGH! NEW EMOTION! YUCK! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. ]

[It's weird for him to feel and doubly weird to watch for her. This was the guy who married her for a green card only for her to kill him a split second after. This was the guy that she actually had the most fun she'd had in years scaring hapless people with. Hell, she'd actually thought she'd miss him when he had left in the end.

Now he's bashful and his wings are twitching and it's just --

She stares at him for a good minute or so and then slowly her shoulders begin to relax. Her surprise slacks off into something ... well, still surprised but. Gentler maybe?]

Huh.

[It comes out as an exhale, a little wonder to it. Then she nods a little, looking down at her own feet as she notes solemnly:]

We could all use some of that.

[Yeah her and Charles have patched things up sort of. And Delia's life coaching might be counted as therapy but frankly they probably all needed a different sort of therapist.

She looks up after a moment though and right at him because it's probably important that she also adds:]

... Good job. On the therapy, I mean.

[ Good job. His second favorite set of words! Beetlejuice's halo lights up despite his attempt to look aloof. ]

Yeah, well, it wasn't on purpose. Don't go thinking I'd give my money to some touchy feely quack.

[ He's going to strangle Michael, he thinks. ]

Yeah! Well! Anyway! I'm suuuuper popular in Hell now! I get invited to practically every party and they unbanned me from the shrimp place in the hotel.

[Pff. Lydia's gaze flicks up to his halo as she tries real hard not to look amused. There's some stupid sense of pride in getting it to light up. With the air somewhat cleared Lydia is far more inclined to tease now, a brow cocked upward.]

Practically every party, hm? What, you don't crash the one's you aren't invited to?

Too busy, babe! I can only spread myself so thin. I wouldn't wanna show up to the function and fall apart--!

[ He collapses into a heap of disjointed limbs. ]

[Okay, as stupid of a joke as it is? It makes Lydia laugh. She's used to this and way more during their scare-a-thon after all. She even saunters her way over to pluck up an arm and smirk at it a little.]

Or maybe you just go to pieces over being invited to anything.

[ The hand she chooses twiddles its fingers at her in a spooky manner--that is until her little quip. The hand points at her. ]

Hey!

[ His head frowns from the pile and only because she is correct. With a grunt, Beetlejuice starts putting himself together. However, he ends up putting all the pieces in the wrong places so he ends up as a horrible shambling conglomeration of stripes and feathers when he's done. BJ reaches a hand out for the arm Lydia holds.]

That was the old me! The new me knows he has friends in low places!

Ah right, I forgot, suuuuper popular.

[She casually tosses him his arm, hands settled on her hips as she watches this abomination he's turned himself into shamble around.

Okay that's a little less pleasant to look at that he usually is.]

You've got your ... everything all wrong.

Oh yeah?

[ Don't mind him while he just squelch-crunch-pops himself back into the right configuration like a human Rubix cube. Once he's got his stripes in order he pats down his clothes and cocks his head to one side. ]

[ He gives her a funny little look because that accursed thing called empathy is gnawing at his brain like a parasite. He's probably the only person in this entire afterlife that Lydia knows. She's alone. Hmm. His eyes flick to that spaded tail she's been lashing. ]

I see they assigned you to Hell. Fitting. But! I'll be the bearer of good news and tell you that you're free to go to whatever level you want. The powers that be won't stop you, but the locals can be a real pain in the ass.

Why bother with the categories then?

[Ah wait, stupid her. She rolls her eyes.]

Because there's got to be a heaven and a hell?

[Whatever it is Lydia notes the funny little look but can't quite figure out what it is. It's not so different from the looks she's gotten before from Delia or her father or the Maitlands. It's not pitying exactly but it's definitely a feeling and seeing it on his face is strange. Not bad but ... weird.

She gives him a look back and then slowly fiddles with one of her gloves, looking more at him as she asks:]

Since you're so popular though maybe you could show me around some time.

[ Beetlejuice shrugs. ]

I dunno, kid, that's just how it is. I haven't met whoever's in charge, so I haven't asked.

[ He thinks about telling her about the Weirdness that happens about once a month, but then decides to wait. It'll come up eventually. Probably. The topic has moved anyway. ]

Well, let's see...

[ He tugs his phone out of his pocket--a brand new smartphone--and scrolls through it. ]

Mmmmm let's see....massage...heist...work...appeal my ban from the Sloppy's...AHA! Looks like I have some free time...right now!

[ Beetlejuice reaches into his coat and pulls out a dusty old hat which he promptly plops onto his head. ]

Wha'dya wanna see first, kid? There's a lot.

[Lydia purses her lips a moment, only mildly surprised he agreed so easily. Looking around in thought she spots the flier he managed to nail up before he noticed her. She hitches a thumb over her shoulder at it.]

How about that place?

[Is she much for bars? Probably not. He's advertising for it though and she's curious, enough to stick her nose in places she typically wouldn't go to.

Then again looking at her? She might fit in, right. Somewhere in the span of all of this her spaded tail has stayed the same but those crimson horns of hers have grown from little nubs to angle back along her head.]

The Devil's Nest? Hmm...

[ Beetlejuice tilts his head and leans toward her until he is in her personal bubble. He looks her over with scrunched brows and reaches out to poke the tip of one of her horns. ]

Aren't you like...twelve?

[ Will Greed even care? Proooobably not. Nanami will. And when Nanami does his big stinky frowny face at him, it's super annoying and it really hurts his chances of finally stealing a kiss off him. BUT. This is Lydia they're talking about! His pal(?) He can vouch for her! ]

EHHHH, who cares? The law? Hahahahaha, sure, I'll take ya to The Devil's Nest! Keep up!

[ Beetlejuice kicks off with one boot and takes wing, making a b-line for the elevator. ]

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